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Cheap USA vacations can be found in all 50 states, including Hawaii and Alaska. You can also find them in the South Pacific in US territories such as Guam and American Samoa, and in the Caribbean in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

Cheap US travel has been popular since the country was connected by railroads in the mid 1800s. From the beginning, the most popular tourist attractions included the rapidly growing urban centers of New York and Chicago, the nation's capital of Washington DC, and San Francisco. Also on the list were natural wonders, embodied by Yellowstone National Park, the nation's first national park, established in 1872, and Yosemite, set aside for public use in 1864. Cheap vacations in the US became available on a large scale beginning with the end of World War II, when the vast US highway system was developed and families set off in the growing number of automobiles to destinations across the country.

Today, cheap USA vacations are enjoyed not only by Americans, but also by millions of tourists from all over the world, especially Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Asia. The top attractions for all tourists are historic monuments, natural wonders, major cities, and sport and entertainment tourism.

Historic landmarks run the full gamut—Central Park in New York City and Alcatraz Island off the coast of San Francisco; the Gettysburg Battlefield in Pennsylvania and the stern wheel wooden paddleboat Nenana in Fairbanks, Alaska; the Vieux Carre Historic District in the French Quarter of New Orleans and the Robert Frost Homestead in New Hampshire. Natural Wonders are just as wide-ranging, including everything from Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon to the Redwood forests of California, the volcanoes of Hawaii, and the Carlsbad Caverns of New Mexico. What these attractions all have in common is their accessibility and affordability, and cheap vacations in the US at any of these sites are possible because of numerous reasonably priced lodging options that include everything from motels to campgrounds.

Cheap US travel also takes advantage of a growing number of nationally and internationally famous sporting and entertainment events. Visitors from around the world come to attend (and participate in) the New York City and Boston Marathons and Motorcycle Weekend in Laconia and Weirs Beach New Hampshire. The Super Bowl, the World Series, and other championship games, both professional and college, draw millions, as does motor racing. Film, music, and other festivals are nearly as popular. You can attend the South By Southwest Festival in Austin, the Summerfest in Milwaukee, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, or the legendary Newport Jazz Festival, and more—all affordable for families and those on a budget.

Additionally, the wide variety of attractions for cheap vacations in the US include amusement and theme parks, gambling and casinos, golf destinations and ski resorts, festivals and other special events, and spa retreats. Amusement parks were probably the first attractions designed specifically to be accessible and affordable for the middle classes. By the beginning of the twentieth century, there were hundreds of them, many of which remain popular today. Perhaps the first large-scale amusement park was at Coney Island in Brooklyn, which boasted a hand-carved carousel by 1876. Many of the amusement parks like Coney Island were built along the beaches of the northeastern coast, from Hampton Beach in New Hampshire to Atlantic City in New Jersey. Then came Disneyland in 1955 and Six Flags, first opened in Texas in 1961. Today, there are thousands of amusement and theme parks all across the United States that are among the most popular cheap US travel for millions of visitors every year.

Cheap USA vacations are also available in the glitziest of destinations—Las Vegas. It is certainly possible to drop a bundle gambling, but hotels, even many of the high end Las Vegas luxury hotels, are generally quite reasonably priced, and there are scores of downright cheap hotels here. Cheap dining options and entertainment are also abundant.

Golf courses are located everywhere, with the largest number located in the most popular resorts areas. In California, it's actually possible to go surfing on the Southern California beaches, play golf on the championship course at Pebble Beach, and hit the ski resorts of Mammoth Mountain all in the same weekend, even if you're looking for last minute cheap vacations.